Today I want to share my thoughts on Pretty Things by Janelle Brown. This is another book that I picked up based on the cover (its gorgeous!) and the name of the book. When I was in college I had a friend that nicknamed me “Pretty things” so I had to read this book.
Synopsis
Nina once bought into the idea that her fancy liberal arts degree would lead to a fulfilling career. When that dream crashed, she turned to stealing from rich kids in L.A. alongside her wily Irish boyfriend, Lachlan. Nina learned from the best: Her mother was the original con artist, hustling to give her daughter a decent childhood despite their wayward life. But when her mom gets sick, Nina puts everything on the line to help her, even if it means running her most audacious, dangerous scam yet.
Vanessa is a privileged young heiress who wanted to make her mark in the world. Instead she becomes an Instagram influencer—traveling the globe, receiving free clothes and products, and posing for pictures in exotic locales. But behind the covetable façade is a life marked by tragedy. After a broken engagement, Vanessa retreats to her family’s sprawling mountain estate, Stonehaven: a mansion of dark secrets not just from Vanessa’s past, but from that of a lost and troubled girl named Nina.
Nina’s, Vanessa’s, and Lachlan’s paths collide here, on the cold shores of Lake Tahoe, where their intertwined lives give way to a winter of aspiration and desire, duplicity and revenge.
Rating
4 Stars (An Excellent book!)
My Thoughts
I don’t even know how which genre this book falls into. Maybe I’d call it a literary suspense. The writing is amazing, the suspense kept me interested throughout and the ending was satisfying.
The writing is what made this book stand out to me! The author takes her time building up the suspense and the characters are flawed but you get invested in them. I loved the alternating timelines and perspectives. The story is set in Lake Tahoe which I loved! This is the first book I read that is set there and the author did a great job at transporting me there.
I listened to this in audio and I loved the narration! One of the narrators is Julia Whelan, who has become one of my favorite audiobook narrators. I didn’t think I’d ever had a favorite audiobook narrator but I do. A good narrator makes a huge difference in my ability to listen to fiction in audio. I definitely recommend this book in audio format.
The only reason why I didn’t give this book 5 stars is because it felt too long. It definitely could have been about 100 pages shorter. Sometimes there were things that were re-told by the other point of view that probably didnt need to. However, listening to the audiobook helped with that!
Favorite Quote
“Nothing is ever as pure as it seems at first glance; there is always something more complicated to be found when you peel back the unmarred surface of pretty things.”
Who I recommend this book to
If you like character driven suspense books this is for you!
Get the book
If you are interested in reading Pretty Things you can get it from Bookshop.org here or Amazon here.
